No body asked these folks, like Bloomberg, Durbin and even Duckworth, to come to Hawaii. They should keep out of Hawaii politics, we don't bother them, so why should they stick their noses in our business?

If Hanabusa wins the primary at this rate, I'll camp out all night to watch the cow jump over the moon. She's running on the same positions as Schatz (save her Budget Act vote, for the niche issues of senior services and air travel)...but without his flare, money, eloquence or charisma. Hanabusa needs to step up her game, or this will be a replay of the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries: whizzes of media buzz airbrushing a dead giveaway.

Hey, Mutt, Schotzie may have the money, but he ain't got flare, eloquence, OR charisma. These two candidates may have similar positions but where they part ways is experience and gravitas. Brian looks and acts like a deer in the headlights, like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar that doesn't belong to him. Disparage Hanabusa's physical stature/appearance or whatever all you want, but she has more experience professionally and personally than he has, or may ever have, and the intellect and political savvy to make use of it for our benefit.

I just spent some time with Sen Schatz. To me, he does have charisma, he's quite articulate, very well versed on a variety of subjects, and seems sincere. He surprised me with a "local boy" style of self-effacing modesty.

I have also spent some time around then Sen Pres Hanabusa. I'll just say that there is/was a significant contrast between how I observed the two interacting with individuals and groups.

When you say she has "the intellect and political savvy " are you suggesting Schatz does not? He didn't get to be the 85th ranked Sen by sitting on his hands, it took some savvy to get there from LG.

I should also point out that as a neighbor islander my first exposure to Hanabusa was when she visibly led the charge to deny Margery Bronster's 2nd term as AG. If I recall correctly it was widely seen as payback for what happened to Henry Peters, Dickie Wong, Lokelani Lindsey, and others. And all of them were considered politically savvy in earlier times, though now they are more useful as a cautionary tale.

itoboy, show me where in any of those materials you cite that Hanabusa herself was coordinating or accused of coordinating. You can't. Because it didn't happen. And you know what happened to the Congressional staffer/hack who tried to ingratiate himself with that bonehead move? Fired.

Hawaiino, I have also spent time around both and don't really care for either of them. It didn't take Schatz ANY political savvy to become 85th in Senate seniority. That was ONLY a function of timing, specifically, getting himself appointed before the November election. If there was political savvy in that move, it was shown by the Governor, NOT the LG. As for Margery Bronster, she richly deserved her fate. As much as the KSBE trustees deserved removal, her abuse of judicial process to achieve that end thru a criminal prosecution that was three times dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct shows that she was no better than the trustees.

You seem overly dismissive when you state Schatz's seeming irrelevance to his current position, that it was solely a matter of timing and a position he fell into. If I may, that IS what defines savvy in a politician. To be in the right place at the right time...and then seize or secure the moment. Schatz did it, he's the incumbent, minimizing his skills and accomplishments says more about you Han it does him.
Your characterization of Bronster's actions as equivalent to the disgraced Trustee's is absurd. You can shout that all you want and you only serve to lessen your credibility.
Your dismissal of Hanabusas improprieties may allow you to sleep all the easier, she still will have a lot of explaining to do. If you care to keep explaining for her, here's a laundry list from Wikipedia complete with footnotes. If you have an answer or explanation for every of these issues/problems then you might consider taking a position in PR. But...you have to answer each charge with no shouting, no straw men, no ad hominem attacks.
From Wikipedia;
"When in the State Legislature, Hanabusa introduced a bill to offer tax credits of up to $75 million for development at Ko Olina Resort, a move she declared necessary to spur development for the Leeward area but which others saw as a reward for a close associate and political backer, Ko Olina developer Jeff Stone. In 2002 Hanabusa emerged as the leading advocate for legislation authorizing $75 million in tax credits for Stone's Ko Olina resort. When Governor Ben Cayetano vetoed the tax credit bill, Hanabusa took the unprecedented step of suing to overturn the veto.[13][14]

Within months, Hanabusa's then-fiancé John Souza received a preferential deal in purchasing one of Stone's homes in Ko Olina. In February 2005, less than two years after Souza bought the home, he sold it for a $421,000 profit, according to real estate records. Souza and Hanabusa, who were engaged at the time and married in 2008, then bought a $1 million home in another Ko Olina subdivision developed by Centex Homes of Texas.[15]

The Ko Olina tax-credit legislation, intended to promote development of a “world-class” aquarium at the resort, expired after plans for the aquarium were abandoned. Ko Olina Resort eventually returned the tax credit, but the Lingle Administration and Hanabusa disagreed on how to use the returned funds.[16]

While in Congress, Hanabusa was called a "loan shark" by the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for abusing her position to pay herself excessive interest payments to settling her campaign debt. Hanabusa's spokesperson stated these interest payments were merely repayment of a bank loan.[17]

Hanabusa appeared on the O'Reilly Factor in January, 2013, where she was criticized for attacking O'Reilly even though she later admitted having never seen the very program that she attacked O'Reilly on. O'Reilly had previously commented on various social issues in state.[18]"